Many insurance related events require the involvement of one or more service providers to assist in responding to the event. For example, an insured driver who is involved in an automobile accident while far from home may need assistance from several different service providers to deal with the accident, including a tow truck provider, a rental car agency, an automobile repair shop, and a hotel. Often, when an insured driver has such an accident, the driver must either consult their insurance policy to determine what services are covered, call their insurance carrier to file a first notice of loss, and/or keep their receipts and hope that their policy will reimburse the costs of the service providers selected by the insured driver.
Other types of insurance related events require similar levels of involvement. For example, an insured homeowner who suffers damage from a fire may need temporary housing, transportation, clothing, and a contractor to repair the damage. Unfortunately, insured individuals often are unable to quickly contact, interact with, and manage their interactions with service providers that are covered under their insurance policy. Further, individuals who suffered an insurance related event (such as an accident, fire or the like) often are not in a position to contact appropriate service providers. For example, a driver who just suffered a traumatic accident may not necessarily be able (or want) to search for the most appropriate car rental agency.
Further, as consumers become more connected and reliant on the use of social networks to share information about their location, status and activities, they increasingly notify others in their social network of accidents or other events even before they consider contacting their insurance provider. For example, an insured driver who is involved in an accident may immediately publish an update on her Twitter® or Facebook® account notifying those in her social network of the accident.
It would be desirable to use social networks and social media to respond to insurance related events. Further, it would be desirable to identify insurance related events through monitoring of social networks.